A planned walkout at a Merseyside primary school has been cancelled after the appointment of an interim headteacher.
The first of six days of strike action at Kingsway Primary School, on Ashville Road in Wallasey, was set to go ahead tomorrow, but has been called off after the school’s head went on leave.
As well as this date, the two other pre-Christmas walkout dates have been cancelled, but the possibility of three further days of strike action after Christmas remains.
Teachers at the school, who are represented by the National Education Union (NEU), voted to strike last month, claiming they had to flush toilets themselves with buckets of water as there is no running water at the school, among many other serious health and safety issues.
Speaking to the ECHO at the time, Peter Middleman, NEU regional secretary, said the hand washing regime for students is less sophisticated than it should be.
Mr Middleman added that there were also issues with the management of Covid-19 bubbles and infection outbreaks at the Wallasey school.
While Wirral Council said the water issue had been fixed and no other health and safety issues had been reported to them, the NEU said teachers still planned to walkout.
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However, earlier this week Francine Foster, who had been Kingsway Primary’s headteacher for 13 years, went on leave and was replaced with Coleen Hibbard on an interim basis.
Following this decision, the pre-Christmas strike plans were called off.
Mr Middleman said: “It is regrettable that it took the appointment of a new, interim headteacher for our reasonable demands to be taken seriously but we recognise that more progress has been made in the last 48 hours than in the previous six months.
“We have suspended the strikes planned for December in recognition of the good faith which has been apparent in sensitive discussions since the weekend.”
NEU regional officer Bora Oktas also welcomed the progress, but held out the prospect of further walkouts in the new year.
He said: “Our members at Kingsway Primary School have suspended strike action as an acknowledgement of good faith that the new headteacher has shown by signing an enabling agreement.
“The employer should not take our members’ flexibility for granted; unless there is early progress in implementing the terms of resolution document in the coming weeks, our members will reinstate the strike action as planned in January.
“Our members have not only achieved recognition for their concerns for the health and safety of staff and pupils, but [have] also won the support and respect of parents and wider community by their determination to stand up for the rights of teachers and pupils alike.”
